What Maggie Wanted
by Amiyrasmom
Summary: Sixth in the What? Series. Maggie has wanted a lot of things in her life.


**Disclaimer: So…right…um…yeah they're not mine. I swear. And that's the only thing I have to say. God! My brain! It's not working! I can't think of anything funny for this disclaimer. I'm sorry but you'll just have to deal with a boring one. Sometimes life is just like that.**

**A/N: Sixth in the What? Series. It's Maggie this time. I have ideas for the others but they need to stew a bit before I put them to paper…er, screen. And yes there will eventually be an actual story to go along with these just not sure when I'll start it. It's brewing too. So on with the story.**

** Oh, and I don't recall them ever giving us Maggie's full name so I've made one up for her. Now, on with the story.**

**What Maggie Wanted**

Margaret Abernathy had wanted a lot of things in her life. She wanted a family and a home. She got those and then her beast of a husband had walked out the door on her and their three boys. Maggie found she didn't mind so much. Her boys were her family.

Maggie wanted to help people. So she worked hard and became a doctor. She liked it. She liked being able to help people.

Maggie didn't particularly want to go to the convention in Seattle. She wanted to stay home in London with her boys. She wanted to read them 'The Wizard of Oz' and cuddle on the sofa with them at night. But it was a necessary part of her job and so she went.

The unthinkable happened and Maggie remembered what an absolute bitch Fate could be. Now all she wanted was to go home.

Maggie wanted to go home more than anything she'd ever wanted in her entire life. She wanted to be with her boys. So she walked. And walked and walked and then she walked some more. She headed east, hoping that there would be a boat to England. The East Coast was closer after all. There had to be a boat to England. There wasn't.

Years passed as she trudged up and down the Eastern Seaboard searching for just one boat to take her to England. She walked because she couldn't stop. Every time she closed her eyes she saw her boys. They were screaming for her. They were frightened. They were alone. They were dying and she wasn't there to make it better. So she walked and asked and begged for any boat. Any way to get home to her boys.

And then one day she just stopped. She sat on a rock and stared out at the lake. It was useless. There was no way to get to England. It was over. Her boys were probably dead. She'd never see them again. She held her phone. The only place where there were any images of her sons. The only pictures of her sons. All the pictures of her boys and she let the tears fall.

She pulled out her flask of whiskey and stared at the lake. She wanted to die. That's all she wanted. To die and see her boys again.

Then he came. With his quiet words and water bottles. With his knowing eyes and kind smile. And he gave her hope again. Ben gave her hope that she would see her sons again. She never told him that. There was just an aura around him that said that anything was possible if you just believed enough. So she went with him to his campfire and his children and his warmth.

This new land of Oz wasn't quite as vast and mysterious with him. He gave her a new family. It wasn't the same as the old one and his children weren't her boys but they became hers. She wanted Danny and Charlie to grow and live and be whatever they wanted. She wanted them safe. After years of wanting only to go home these new desires overwhelmed her. She wanted again.

More years passed and she did what she could. She became the town doctor. She helped Danny with his asthma and she did her best to help Charlie with her bitterness. She knew Charlie didn't really care much for her and that was all right. Charlie had been hurt when her mother abandoned them and she couldn't trust so easily. Maggie didn't mind at all, she understood and she put her own sons in Charlie's position and could only hope that they were as loyal.

Then the soldiers came. They came and Maggie wanted Ben to live and Danny to be home and safe. So she set off walking again. She wasn't alone this time though. This time she walked with Charlie and Aaron. And this time they had a destination. This time she knew where she was going. They were walking to Chicago. They were going to retrieve Ben's brother and make him help get Danny back.

Aaron handed Charlie a letter that first night and then he handed one to her. She took it and read Ben's words. How had he known? All he asked her was to take care of Danny and Charlie until she could go home and if they wanted to for her to take them with her. Take them away from here. She would do it. She wanted to do it. They would rescue Danny and then she wanted to show them London. Introduce them to her boys. She'd heard a rumor that Georgia was trading with England now. She wanted to find out if it was true.

She wanted to find the right words to comfort Charlie after reading that letter. But the information was too shocking for her to get her head around it. Ben had never even hinted that Charlie wasn't his. What had Rachel been thinking? Why had she done this?

But Charlie was strong, stronger even than she knew. Charlie just shrugged her off and walked to her father. She took it all in her stride and let her anger at her mother simmer as she found a friend and a father in her Uncle Miles.

Maggie wanted Miles to be a good man. Wanted him to help them. Wanted him to love Charlie. She finally got some of the things she wanted. Miles did all of those.

Maggie knew that they would rescue Danny now. She would ask them if they wanted to come to England with her though she knew that unless Miles said yes then Charlie would stay and if Charlie stayed then Danny would too. That was all right. Miles would take care of them. Now, she just wanted to see her boys again. She held tight to the phone with their pictures.

Then Aaron turned the power on. Oh not for long and he had no idea what or how but it was on. On for long enough for her to see her boys. Tears filled her eyes. Her sons. Her boys. There they were. Their dear faces smiling up at her.

Then she lost them again. The power was off. Oh God! But she'd seen them. She could remember them now. She wanted to see them again.

Dr. Margaret Abernathy had wanted a great many things in her lifetime. The rain to stop. To help other people. To have a family. To mean something to someone. To be with her children. To hold someone in her arms. To have a cup of tea. All of them important at the time and all of them meaningless now. Now with her life's blood littering the floor she only wanted Charlie to not cry. She wanted to tell Charlie what the girl and her brother had done for her.

She couldn't let go without telling Charlie what she'd meant to her. She drew on her last reserves of strength and told the beautiful girl what Charlie and Ben and Danny had done for her and then she asked for her phone.

She wanted to pretend she had her boys while she drew in her last breath. She wanted them to know how very much she loved and missed them. She held her phone in one hand and her only daughter's in the other. "I love you," she whispered.

And then Dr. Margaret Abernathy of London, England wanted for nothing more.


End file.
